Introduction

The Profound Question: How Can Sinful Man Fear No Condemnation?

0:05 This morning, on this Easter Sunday, is Romans chapter 8 and verse 34. Romans chapter 8 and verse 34. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea, rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

0:56 As we gather together on this Easter morning, perhaps the most profound religious question that we can ask ourselves is this, how can sinful man be right with God? Or to ask the question within the framework of the words of our text, how can guilty men come to the place where they fear no condemnation? How does a man come to the place where he can hurl, as it were, into the teeth of the whole moral universe this question, who is he that condemneth? As though Paul were facing men, angels, devils, and God himself, saying, who amongst the whole moral, the whole universe, will point the finger of condemnation to me,

1:58 the fallen son of Adam. I say there are perhaps few questions, if any, that are more profound in the realm of true religious concern than that question, how does a man come to the place where he fears no condemnation and has true, solid reasons for not having that fear? Not like a man. Not like a man who's half drunk during an air raid and thinks he's down in the Bahamas somewhere basking in the sun.

2:29 He has no fears. He staggers around in his drunken stupor, bombs bursting all around him. But he has no rational grounds for his state of euphoria. He's just out of touch with the world of reality.

2:43 And there are many people traipsing their way into churches this morning who have no dread of condemnation, but they're like the drunk man staggering around in the midst of an air raid, who thinks he's basking on the beaches somewhere in the Bahamas or down in Bermuda. They're just out of touch with the world of biblical reality. They haven't faced themselves biblically. They haven't faced God biblically.

3:05 They haven't faced sin biblically. But the man who said these words, he faced the facts of who God was and God is, faced the facts of who he was, and yet he dares to say, who is he that condemneth? Now it's this very question. Which our text raises this morning.

3:27 The question of how can a man say, I fear no condemnation. It is this question which our text raises. And if the Holy Spirit enables us to enter in today to but one-tenth of the meaning of this text in which the question is not only raised but answered, why then we should be a blessed people before we leave tonight. I hope we're blessed before we leave.

Understanding the Context: God's Unwavering Commitment to His Elect (Romans 8:29-32)

3:55 I hope we're blessed before we even leave this morning. But we should be doubly blessed before we leave tonight. Now as we think our way through the text, I must first of all say a few words, more than a few words, quite a bit, about the context. In other words, what is the flow of thought which leads up to this question, this challenge as it were to the whole moral universe.

4:18 Who is he that condemneth? You won't catch the weight of the text until you sense something of the flow of the context. You won't catch the weight of the text until you sense something of the flow of the context. You won't catch the weight of the text until you sense something of the flow of the context.

4:26 And then the second thing we'll do is seek to explain the question, what did Paul mean precisely when he said, who is he that condemneth? And then spend the rest of our time this morning and all our time this evening, God willing, seeking to expound the answer of the Apostle Paul to that question. So then first of all, some words about the context. And I hope you won't feel like that poor woman who when she came out of church and someone said, how were things this morning?

4:53 She said, well, the most important thing is that I'm not going to tell you what I know. She said, well, the minister spent so long spreading the table, I was worn out by the time the food was served. What she meant was he spent so much time laying the groundwork for the opening up of the text that when he actually got to the text, she had very little left of mental energy. Rather, I hope our dealing with the context will be like a few sips of a choice wine that set all the enzymes going, and then your appetizer, whether it was shrimp cocktail or something else, that all it will do is make you want to eat it.

5:24 It will make you appreciate more fully the main course, rather than wear you out before we get to the main course. So then, what about the context? In what setting does the Apostle Paul ask the question of verse 34? Well, briefly, the context is this.

5:42 In verses 29 and 30, in the development of his argument, which is a logical argument, as you know, in the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul reached sort of a semi-climax. In these pregnant words of verses 29 and 30, for whom he, that is God, foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. And whom he foreordained, then he also called. And whom he called, then he also justified.

6:15 And whom he justified, then he also glorified. And in these two verses, Paul gives us, first of all, a word about the ultimate end envisioned in our salvation. As God committed himself to the salvation of the people, what was the ultimate end that he had in view? Well, verse 29 tells us that it was nothing less than our entire renovation into the very moral likeness of Jesus Christ, so that in the end, Christ might be but the firstborn among many brethren.

6:54 That is, that there might be such a family likeness that looking upon the host of the redeemed, you'd have to say, Christ stands out above all others. He is the firstborn, the rightful heir, yet they have been brought into such conformity to him that they must all be of the same family. Now, that's the end that God has in view. Nothing less than that.

7:20 Whom he foreknew, that is, regarded with distinguishing love and affection, then he predestined, that is, marked out beforehand to be conformed to the image of his Son. So Paul has made this statement concerning the ultimate end envisioned in our salvation, an end which is nothing less than our entire renovation into the moral likeness of Jesus Christ. Then he says in the second place that this God, who has marked out that end, is absolutely committed to the attainment of that end. Hence, he foreknows us, that is, regards us with distinguishing love and affection, marks us out to be like his Son, then, as it were, he rolls up his sleeves and says, now having defined and marked out that purpose, I'm going to accomplish it. So what does he do? He effectually calls us. There are all those barriers to his laying hold of us and beginning that work of renovation.

8:28 There's the barrier of our own blindness. There's the barrier of our bondage to sin and the devil. There's that tremendous barrier of the indisposition of our carnal hearts, not subject to the law of God. Neither, indeed, can they be.

8:42 And God, as it were, says, well, I face all those barriers, but I'm determined to have that man like my Son. And so, one by one, he batters down, down the barriers, until what happens? We come most freely to embrace his Son, being made willing by his grace. He calls us.

9:03 Why? Because he's determined to make us like his Son. Oh, the process has got to begin. Where does it begin?

9:09 Well, he brings us to repentance and faith, and he lays hold of us, and he calls us. And what does he do? Well, it says, whom he called, let me justify. As long as we stand guilty before his court, he can't treat us as sons and begin to work in us the family like this.

9:27 Everything that stands as a barrier to God regarding us with filial affection has got to be taken away. So what does he do? He justifies us. That is, he declares us righteous.

9:39 Not just declares us forgiven, and says, the bad things you've done, I blot out. But he says, I look upon you as ones who have perfectly kept my law in the person of your substitute. The Lord Jesus. And so by the life and death of Jesus Christ, the teaching Paul expounded in Romans 5, we are accepted.

10:01 So he overcomes that barrier. And then, whom he justified, even though the work is begun, and sanctification begins with effectual calling, and though they're accepted in the Beloved, the remains of corruption are there, so he's got to complete the work. And what is the completion? Glorification.

10:19 So whom he justified, them he also glorified. And when he glorifies us, then, when we stand before him in our resurrection bodies and our perfected spirits, the image of Christ will be perfectly reflected in us. And that to which he committed himself is accomplished. And so certain it is that Paul puts our glorification in the past tense, like our calling and our justification.

10:48 Whom he called, them he justified. Whom he justified, them he glorified. Well, why is he so certain of this? Well, for the simple reason that it is God who is committed to his own clearly defined end.

11:03 And if God is committed to it, who's going to stand in his way? What barrier is going to raise up itself and say, God, I'm too big for you? What thing in heaven, earth, or hell will frustrate his purpose? Now that's the teaching of verses 29 and 30.

11:19 God has marked out as his ultimate goal for his own complete conformity to Christ. God himself has committed himself irrevocably to the attainment of that goal. You say, how are you so sure that that's the right interpretation? Well, because it leads us to the conclusion that it led Paul to in verses 31 and 32.

11:40 What then shall we say to these things? What things? Well, what he's just been saying. Here's God's goal, likeness to Christ.

11:50 Here's God's commitment to that goal. Now what shall we say then to these things? And his answer to the question is with another question. If God is for us, who can be against us?

Illustration of God's Commitment: The Big Brother Analogy

12:03 And what does for us mean? That God is up in heaven as if we're just casting a vote that somehow we will avail ourselves of some indefinite provisions he's made for some sinner somewhere in some circumstances? No. For us in the context of verses 29 and 30, if God is for us, committed to us in his foreknowledge, when for reasons locked up in his own heart he marked us out and made us the objects of his love in eternity past, if God is for us in coming forth with power to call us out of darkness into marvelous light, if God is for us in justifying us, accepting us in the beloved, if God is for us in scouring all the last remains of sin from us, body, soul, and spirit, and glorifies us and stands us in his presence, if God is for us, who is against us? Oh, do you catch something of the pulse beat of the Apostle's heart and his mind in this beautifully structured argument? If God is for us, who is against us? Well, there are things against us.

13:21 The devil's against us. He would keep us in the kingdom of darkness. The world is against us. The flesh, demons, the powers of hell.

13:31 But it's as though Paul says, not that there are not forces against us, but if God is committed to this purpose, what is there that can rise up and challenge the power of that God? Shall demons, shall the devil, shall the world, shall the flesh? Who can prevail? Who can overcome?

13:52 Who can conquer when God is with us? Like the little boy that knows he's got to walk through the area of his neighborhood where the bullies hang out. And one is there always throwing stones. And another one's always there throwing sticks.

14:08 Another one's always there sticking his tongue out going, yeah, yeah. And there's another one who's always there trying to grab him and pick any nickels or dimes out of his pockets that he has. And he knows that those four bullies, those bullies are against him. But his big brother's home from college and he happens to play first string offensive tackle.

14:27 He's six foot four, 270 pounds. And so as he goes out to take the walk through the neighborhood that day, he says, if my brother Henry's with me and for me, who's against me? And he can walk by Jake and stick his tongue out at Jake as long as his big brother's standing by his side. And he can look at the other bully who likes to come and pick his pockets, and he can go to him, yeah, yeah, you can't touch me.

14:54 You see? If my brother Henry is for me, committed to my preservation, who is Jake and Mike and Pete and Conan to be against? You see, that's what the apostle is saying. Because later on in the chapter, he speaks of the things that are against me, tribulation, persecution, famine, these that would destroy me.

The Three Lesser Questions Under God's Canopy (Romans 8:33-35)

15:17 But if God is committed, who can be against us? Now, it is in that context, in that context, that the apostle Paul then opens up this whole section bounded by three lesser questions. He asks the great question, if God before us, who is against us? If He spared not His Son, how should He not with Him give us everything needed, protection, preservation, glorification?

15:50 And under that great canopy, of that larger question, he then asks three lesser questions. Look at them. Verse 33, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Then he answers it.

16:02 Verse 34, Who is He that condemneth? Then he answers it. Verse 35, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Then he answers it.

16:11 And it's in the asking and the answering of those three lesser questions, all of them subsisting under that greater question, if God before us, who is against us, that a Christian is to find some of the most solid material for his encouragement and confidence in the face of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Well, I hope then that that hasn't wearied you, but it's been a little bit of that fine wine and shrimp cocktail to whet your appetite. All right? Having looked at the context, now let's consider briefly the meaning of the question.

The Meaning of the Question: Who Can Justly Condemn?

16:47 When Paul asks this question, who is He that condemneth? What is he thinking about? Well, we've already hinted at it in our introduction. Paul is saying who is there, or what is there in the whole moral universe that shall be able to rise up and issue a sentence of condemnation upon the least of the children of God?

17:10 This word condemn is a legal term. It's the very word used in the Gospel of Mark when it says they condemned Christ to be worthy of death. It has to do with courtroom action. So Paul's question is, who is there that can justly issue a sentence of condemnation upon me or upon any who are encompassed in God's foreknowledge, calling, justification, and glorification?

17:42 Now think for a minute about the man who asked this question. He was very realistic about the extent and the condemnation of man's sin. He was not the man who said, oh, well, since God is love, there's no problem with me. I don't have a problem in asking this question.

17:58 Who is He that condemneth? Why, nobody will condemn. And if any man would condemn, God is so full of love that He'll forgive everyone. But you see, the man who asked this question didn't think that way.

18:09 He's the man who wrote the first five chapters of this same letter. He's the one who says, starting in verse 18 of chapter 1, that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. He didn't have this deluded notion that God was nothing but a glob of nebulous, unprincipled love. He said the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.

18:37 He's the man who went on to say in chapter 3, verses 10 to 19, none righteous, no, not one, none that understandeth, all gone out of the way. Whatsoever things the law saith, the verses we went over in the adult class this morning, it saith to them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become what? Guilty before God. He says all the world stands under the sentence of condemnation.

19:04 Ah, but you say that's for people who aren't yet saved. It's different with the saved. Not according to Paul. There are a lot of differences.

19:12 But that we no longer sin is not one of them. He's the man who wrote Romans 7. He said, The good that I would, I do not. The evil that I would not, that I do.

19:22 When I would do good, I find a law on my members, bringing me captive to the law of sin. O wretched man that I am! This man who says, Who is he that condemneth? is not only a man who's looking with 20-20 vision at the reality of his past sin in the days of his impenitence.

19:42 He's looking realistically at the present experience. At the extent of his sin as a believer. And yet he dares to say, Who is he that condemneth? Now how in the world does a man get to that place?

19:57 Conscious that God's wrath burns against all sin. Conscious that in his own holy heart as a regenerate man there is still a residue of uncleanness and evil that makes him groan and cry out. How can a man say, Who is he that condemneth? I would ask you this morning, have you faced the realities that Paul faced?

20:26 And been brought to the place where you can ask the question he asked? As you sit here in this building this morning, I press upon your conscience these questions. Have you faced realistically Paul's God? Who is the only true and living God?

20:41 The God whose wrath burns against sin? The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. Have you faced realistically the extent of your own sin as God's law is laid upon your conscience and touches not just your deeds but your thoughts and your motives and the intents and the secrets of your heart? Have you faced realistically Paul's God and the law that Paul knew that God had given and by which he has bound his creatures?

21:14 Well, a convicted sinner feels the last thing in the world he'll ever have is the ability to say, Who is he that condemneth? Everything condemns him! If he looks within to his own conscience, his conscience points the finger and brings down the accusation, Thou art the man! If he looks out to God's objective law, that law flashes with all the thunder and the fire of Sinai and it seems that it's all funneled in the direction of his own head, saying, Thou art the guilty one to be consumed by that law.

21:51 If he looks up to God and thinks of God, he can only think of Him as a righteous judge who must punish all breaches of His law. If he looks to angels, he knows that they've been witness to his sins and even devils could rise up and say, You have consorted with us in our rebellion against the Almighty. And every single thing in the moral universe to which a convicted sinner looks, everything says, I condemn you! Conscience, the law, God, devils, angels, everything says, I condemn you!

22:26 And yet this man says, Who is he that condemneth? He can look to his own conscience and say, Conscience is at rest. He can look to the law of God and say, The law has no more thunder, sir. He can look at God, angels, devils, Who is he that condemneth?

22:43 I ask you, have you ever been brought to the place where you felt everything condemned you? Until you have, you'll never appreciate the question and the answer, Who is he that condemneth? May I repeat that? Until you've been brought to the place where you feel that everything condemns, you'll never appreciate Paul's answer to the question, Who is he that condemns?

The Four Pillars of Paul's Answer: Christ's Work

23:10 Well, that's the question. We've said it in the context of its biblical surroundings. Now, what's the answer that Paul gives to it? Or better still, he implies the answer and he really gives us the reasons behind his answer.

23:27 It's a rhetorical question. Who is he that condemneth? The assumed answer, no one. And then in answer to the question that would arise, Well, Paul, on what basis?

23:37 He gives us these four tremendous facts. It is Christ Jesus that died. Who is he that condemneth? He says, I dare to throw that challenge into the teeth of the entire moral universe because of what I understand about the death of Christ.

23:58 Yea, rather, fact number two, that was raised from the dead. Who is he that condemneth? What I understand about the resurrection enables me to throw the challenge into the teeth of the moral universe. Who is he that condemneth?

24:13 Christ not only died, Christ rose. Fact number three, Who is at the right hand of God? What I know about his session at the right hand of the Father and his exaltation enables me to say, Who is he that condemneth? Fact number four, Who also maketh intercession for us?

24:33 In other words, Paul's confidence to throw out the challenge, Who is he that condemneth? rested down upon these four pillars, these foundation blocks of biblical reality. His confidence was not because he had had some kind of an existential, non-rational religious experience, and he felt all smothered in the ooze of divine forgiveness. And in that moment he captured it and said, Who is he that condemneth?

25:06 I feel so forgiven, I dared on. Oh, my friend, I don't care how high your highs may be, in the sense of forgiveness, stick around long enough and you'll hit a rock bottom state where you feel the billows of divine wrath and anger gathering momentum and about to crash upon your head. And if you don't have something more than a sweet inward sense of forgiveness, vaguely attached somehow to Christ and His cross and His resurrection, I don't want to be in your shoes. No, no, this kind of confidence that can face the most black, dark moment of depression and say, Who is he that condemneth?

25:49 Who is he that condemneth? is rooted in these great biblical, yes, theological propositions and concepts. Christ died, Christ rose, He went to the right hand, He intercedes. And my deep longing as your pastor today is twofold, that as the Holy Spirit enables us to penetrate more deeply into the gospel mystery of these four acts, that before the evening is over our hearts may burst with God's confidence.

Pastoral Application: Shattering False Assurance and Deepening True Confidence

26:21 And then for some of you who think there's no condemnation, but have just got vague notions based upon no biblical reality, my prayer has been that this will be the most shattering day in your life. This will be the most miserable Easter you've ever spent. That God will just cut down every breath upon which you rest and bring you shattered and broken in Christ. The place where you say, what a fool I've been, like the drunken man staggering around in an air raid thinking he's on the beaches in the Bahamas.

27:01 And that having shattered you and wounded you, God may bring you into the blessings of free grace. Well then, as we begin to analyze this answer, and we'll only have time to begin this morning, will you notice in the first place that every part of Paul's answer to this question, how can I have this sense of no condemnation, every part of the answer focuses upon this unique person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus that died. Yea, rather, that was raised from the dead. Who is at the right hand of God? Who maketh intercession for us? In other words, Paul lets us know without even penetrating into the details of his answer that his confidence of no condemnation focuses upon the merit and the worth bound up in this unique person called Christ Jesus. Hence,

The Unique Person and Specific Acts of Christ as the Foundation of Confidence

28:07 we are warranted to state if you are ignorant of the Christ of Scriptures and yet you fear no condemnation, you're self deceived and self deluded. If you're ignorant of the Christ of Scriptures and yet you say you have the peace and confidence of no condemnation, my friend, the kindest thing I can do to you is say that you're living in a fool's paradise. For Paul's confidence was one rooted in a knowledge of the Christ of Scriptures. So he doesn't just call him Jesus. He says it is Christ Jesus who died. And in that word Christ is packed all the richness of the Old Testament revelation concerning God's anointed Messiah. Whose work in time is never disjointed from the Father's purposes in eternity. This idea that you can understand Jesus of Nazareth by coming to Jesus of Nazareth is ridiculous.

29:11 He was conceived in the womb of the virgin. The angel didn't say now Joseph a wonderful thing is going to happen and in time I'll let you figure out what it is. No, no. What did he say?

29:21 The virgin shall conceive and thou shalt call his name Jesus. The very name you give him Joseph is a declaration of what he's come to do for he shall save his people from their sins. Then when he's born what do the angels do? They just say hey you shepherds wonderful things happening go down there and figure out what it's all about.

29:44 Fear not for I bring you glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. When you see him growing up healing and meeting the needs of the sick and the downcast never forget he has not come primarily to feed hungry bellies and to reorient disjointed lives he's come to save from sin. That's his great mission. And so I say to you my friend if you are ignorant of the Christ of Scripture and you just have some vague nebulous attachment to the man Christ Jesus you have no right to say who is he that condemneth. Paul's confidence was rooted in that unique person and let me say to every believer who acknowledges that fact your confidence in the state of no condemnation will be in direct proportion to your intimate scriptural knowledge of the Lord Jesus. May I repeat that? Your confidence in the state of no condemnation will be in direct proportion to your intimate scriptural knowledge of Jesus Christ.

31:12 That's why as an old man ready to have his head drop in a basket Paul says this is my ambition Philippians 3 that I may know him. Because he knew that it was in the knowledge of Christ that the certainty of his standing before God was to be increased and deepened. That's why the loadstone of Paul's preaching was what? I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus as the Christ and him as crucified.

31:51 The two pivots of his preaching the person and the work of Christ. He never said I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus. That's the modern aberration of biblical truth. And so we've got Jesus freaks and Jesus movements.

32:07 But there is but one savior he is Christ Jesus the Lord in all the richness of biblical revelation. Any other Christ is another Christ. So without even looking at details we see that Paul's confidence rests down upon this unique person and secondly we see that all of his confidence focuses upon the specific acts and doings of that unique person. You have these four things crucifixion, Christ died, resurrection, yea rather that is risen from the dead, exaltation the right hand of God, intercession who maketh intercession for me. Notice you have the two past acts of Christ. Crucifixion resurrection. Then you have this present position. He is at the right hand of God which gives birth to this present activity.

33:03 He makes intercession. Now is the Holy Ghost just playing with us here? Is he giving us these things because they have individual significance? Yes. And oh dear fellow believers it's in an understanding of the biblical significance of the two past acts. Christ died, Christ rose. His present position at the right hand of God. His present activity who maketh intercession. It's in the believing reception of and spirit wrought understanding of these things that we are brought to say who is he that condemneth? Would you love to be able to say that with Paul? Would you? What would you give? What would you give?

33:48 To be able to say with Paul this morning, facing the reality of Paul's God as he faced it. The reality of the depth and extent of your own sin. As some of you whom I know from my pastoral dealings with you you'd give up almost anything to be able to say who is he that condemneth? My friend you'll come to that place if you come to it all. Not primarily by long seasons of prayer. Not primarily by listening to lengthy sermons. By reading good books on assurance. They all may have their place but you'll come to it if you come to it all as the Holy Ghost is pleased to shine upon this unique person and open up to you the significance of those four acts that he accomplishes for his people.

The Historicity and Significance of Christ's Saving Acts

34:44 Now we only have time this morning to make one or two other applications and I never know as I say how we're, I fully hope to get through. Christ died and possibly into rose again but this is the first time I've preached on the text so I must say a word of application here under this second introductory perspective where Paul says it's this person and his work to be ignorant of the saving acts of Christ Jesus and yet to claim assurance is also self delusion. To have so called confidence that you're not condemned and yet not have understanding of what it means Christ died, Christ rose is at the right hand of God is to have unfounded confidence. You see believers why we must fight and if necessary lose our life's blood to maintain the historicity of the gospel records. You wrench away from history and the world of reality Christ died. That means that in a certain place in Palestine outside the city wall if you had been there and put your hand out in the right proportion to where the blood dripped down from his cross your hand would have been wet with his blood. You could have picked up dirt that had become red mud from the blood of the Son of God and we must be willing to die for the fact that in time and space in a specific place the Son of God shed his blood. Christ died.

36:10 Take that away and men will no longer be able to say biblically who is he that condemned us. We must be willing if necessary to die for the truth that somewhere there in Jerusalem in a tomb of a man named Joseph there came a point and a clock if we had watches and we were standing there looking at it when a cold slab of stone felt released from the weight of the mature body of a man 33 years of age. When a slab of stone as it were sighed relief that had given up its burden the resurrection is not just a nice religious Christian idea. He actually rose.

36:55 If we do away with that we will no longer be able to say who is he that condemned us. If we do away with his literal ascension to the right hand of the Father that is to say that somewhere again in Palestine on the hillside there was a piece of ground which the moment after Christ began to raise you put your hand on it you could feel the love from his own feet. He was there. Often somewhere in the universe there is a place where he now is this very morning in his glorified body and if we could be there we could touch it and feel it and see that he is not a spirit.

37:35 Do away with that and people will no longer be able to say who is he that condemned us and say it scripturally. And in that place this morning as you have been engaged in worship and in praise and following the exposition of the word bearing every one of his dear blood bought children on his heart in the presence of his own Father. He is there interceding for us and as the Father beholds all of our imperfections as his children the Father beholds his Son in all of his perfection and sees us accepted in him and is pleased with us in Christ Jesus. So our praise this morning full of sin has actually been a sweet savor to God. Why? Because it has come through the mediation and intercession of Christ. Our prayers, our worship, our service, all of it unacceptable in itself has been accepted in him.

38:40 And so to do away with those four acts and to rob them of their historical reality and their biblical significance is to do away with all Christianity. Well, I have to close without even getting to the opening up of those words. I hope what we have considered has at least whetted your appetite and not wearied you. Do you want to be able to say no condemnation?

39:12 Have the confidence that Almighty God is committed from eternity to eternity to your salvation? Do you long to be able to say with the Apostle, if God be for us and know that you are in the us who is against us then will you not pray that God by the Holy Spirit will open up in a new way the significance of these tremendous words. Simple words. Christ that died.

39:40 What can be more simple than that? It is Christ that died. Five one syllable words. But in them my friend and in a spirit born understanding is all your hope and all your salvation. Yea rather he says something that even overshadows his death. It is he that has been raised from the dead how does that all relate to the ability to say who is he that condemned? Well that is what I hope to open up tonight and I would say more realistically we will probably get the first two tonight and we will have to finish up the last two next Sunday morning. But oh as we close this morning may our hearts run out in praise and in worship to that unique person who has taken upon himself the whole cause of the salvation of his people.

40:31 As we think of our celebration of Easter whatever may be legitimate in it certainly it is not legitimate to think of Easter as we do of George Washington's birthday or Martin Luther King's assassination day where we see some heroic figure standing outside of us and opposite us to as it were pay them some homage. No no my friend we must behold the Lord Jesus always. As the one who is inseparably united to his people he took them into union with himself in eternity when we were chosen in him. When we were delivered unto him by the Father and he took us with him into the awful agonies of Gethsemane when he wrestled for our salvation. He took us with him to the awful baptism and agony of when all the billows of the Father's wrath passed upon his head because he was there as our head and that body which bore those sufferings was the body that he himself had assumed on our behalf and therefore when he died he died our death and when he rose his resurrection was our open door to life. One of the things I want to demonstrate tonight

41:59 is that oft forgotten and overlooked passage in Matthew where it says when our Lord died that when the day came many of the tombs of the saints were opened and they came forth and showed themselves after the resurrection I think there's tremendous significance in that phrase in the text we're looking at today. You come back tonight and we'll try to open it up, alright? I'm sorry that I've cut off at such an odd place but that's the problem when you're preaching something for the first time and don't know just how it's going to go and I'm sorry that I've not been able to go further but I hope the Lord has ministered to our hearts this morning. Let us bow together in prayer.